When Jesus went to Jerusalem the last time he spent almost a week in the temple, teaching and contending for the faith. Mostly contending for the faith, because arrogant Pharisees and insolent Sadducees opposed him at every turn.
One particular day the Pharisees hit him with a trick question about Roman taxation. “Do we pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Jesus asked to see the coin with which they would pay the tax and caught them in their hypocrisy. They had the filthy pagan currency on them in the holy temple! Jesus’ response revealed their foolishness: “Render to Caesar the things of Caesar, and render to God the things of God.” Jesus refused to be caught up in their petty arguments.
Next up were the Sadducees, keepers of the temple. Arrogant in their ignorance they refused to consider the likelihood of a resurrection because they couldn’t find specific reference to it in their version of the Torah. So they also posed the same foolish question they always used to trip up people who dared argue with them about it. In the resurrection, whose wife would the woman be who had been married to seven brothers through levirate marriages? Jesus wasted no time calling them errant, explained to them that marriage would not exist in the future resurrection, and let them know Abraham is living because God would never associate himself with the dead. Thus there is a resurrection! He shut them up.
But then a scribe, a lawyer for the Sanhedrin, filed an amicus brief. That is, he asked a friendly question. “What is the greatest commandment in the law?” I don’t think the man was trying to put Jesus on the spot; I think he was trying to let Jesus explain himself, and bring some order to the feeding frenzy going on at Jesus’ expense.
Of the 613 Jewish laws Jesus immediately turned to Deuteronomy chapter 6:
He then said there is a second like it, and referred to Leviticus chapter 19:
I think the lawyer’s amicus brief brought the conversation from insignificant argument back to the main thing. The main thing is to love God with all within us, and then to live it out by expressing it to our neighbors.
When I researched how we might actually express love for God, the Scriptures repeatedly linked knowing and living his word with actually loving God. It seems to me this is the goal of discipleship, to sufficiently know God’s word enough to apply it as a matter of course in life situations. It is lived out by continuing to do the things Jesus said he came to do when he announced the coming of the kingdom.
Jesus spoke of things like proclaiming economic equity, healing the brokenhearted, releasing the oppressed from disadvantage, and restoring life in a manner of the anticipated resurrection. He spoke of them as current reality and indicated his church would be about that work, bringing glimpses of the hereafter into present reality while anticipating its arrival.
Discipleship is following Jesus into that work. It is sufficiently internalizing the Scriptures and living them out in practical ways so that the world is improved and God is glorified. The apostle James wrote of this and reminded us that faith without works is dead.
I am convinced the discipleship programs in our churches need to have more than an academic element. They must touch our hearts and transform them to love God with every ounce of our being, and then move us to live out our faith in tangible ways that give glimpses of heaven on earth. That seems to me to be the main thing. So let’s work to keep the main thing the main thing.
One particular day the Pharisees hit him with a trick question about Roman taxation. “Do we pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Jesus asked to see the coin with which they would pay the tax and caught them in their hypocrisy. They had the filthy pagan currency on them in the holy temple! Jesus’ response revealed their foolishness: “Render to Caesar the things of Caesar, and render to God the things of God.” Jesus refused to be caught up in their petty arguments.
Next up were the Sadducees, keepers of the temple. Arrogant in their ignorance they refused to consider the likelihood of a resurrection because they couldn’t find specific reference to it in their version of the Torah. So they also posed the same foolish question they always used to trip up people who dared argue with them about it. In the resurrection, whose wife would the woman be who had been married to seven brothers through levirate marriages? Jesus wasted no time calling them errant, explained to them that marriage would not exist in the future resurrection, and let them know Abraham is living because God would never associate himself with the dead. Thus there is a resurrection! He shut them up.
But then a scribe, a lawyer for the Sanhedrin, filed an amicus brief. That is, he asked a friendly question. “What is the greatest commandment in the law?” I don’t think the man was trying to put Jesus on the spot; I think he was trying to let Jesus explain himself, and bring some order to the feeding frenzy going on at Jesus’ expense.
Of the 613 Jewish laws Jesus immediately turned to Deuteronomy chapter 6:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
He then said there is a second like it, and referred to Leviticus chapter 19:
. . . you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.The lawyer readily agreed and Jesus affirmed that he was not far from God’s kingdom.
I think the lawyer’s amicus brief brought the conversation from insignificant argument back to the main thing. The main thing is to love God with all within us, and then to live it out by expressing it to our neighbors.
When I researched how we might actually express love for God, the Scriptures repeatedly linked knowing and living his word with actually loving God. It seems to me this is the goal of discipleship, to sufficiently know God’s word enough to apply it as a matter of course in life situations. It is lived out by continuing to do the things Jesus said he came to do when he announced the coming of the kingdom.
Jesus spoke of things like proclaiming economic equity, healing the brokenhearted, releasing the oppressed from disadvantage, and restoring life in a manner of the anticipated resurrection. He spoke of them as current reality and indicated his church would be about that work, bringing glimpses of the hereafter into present reality while anticipating its arrival.
Discipleship is following Jesus into that work. It is sufficiently internalizing the Scriptures and living them out in practical ways so that the world is improved and God is glorified. The apostle James wrote of this and reminded us that faith without works is dead.
I am convinced the discipleship programs in our churches need to have more than an academic element. They must touch our hearts and transform them to love God with every ounce of our being, and then move us to live out our faith in tangible ways that give glimpses of heaven on earth. That seems to me to be the main thing. So let’s work to keep the main thing the main thing.
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